Catheter



G. L. BEALL June 9, 1964 CATHETER Filed Jan. I9, 1962 @Ofgg BY y @fior/WIl u. i

United States Patent C) 3,136,316 CATHETER Glenn L. Beall, Wildwood,Avon, Ill., assgnor to Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill., acorporation of Iliinois Filed Ian. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 167,239 1 Claim.(Cl. 12g-350) This invention relates to a catheter and in particular toa catheter which is particularly useful in peritoneal dialysis.

It is one of the prime purposes of the invention to provide a catheterwhich is effective in both the administration of a solution into and thedrainage of the expended solution from the peritoneal cavity of a humanbeing. Prior art catheters for this purpose have not been par-Aticularly successfully employed in peritoneal dialysis because tissue,a portion of the bowels, a portion of the omentum, and the like haveprevented the flow of the solution and the expended solution through thecatheter due to clogging of the one or more apertures provided in thecatheter. In accordance with the invention, there are provided severalmeans each of which serves to prevent tissue, portions ofthe bowels,omentum, y'and the like from clogging the apertures in the catheter.

It is one of the features of the invention to provide at least one andpreferably a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves in a distalmarginal end of a tubular body of the catheter. The aperture orapertures are preferably provided in a longitudinally extending grooveto provide communication with a longitudinally extending passage formedin the tubular body. The intersection of the outer surface of thetubular body and the side walls of each groove form relatively pointededges which prevent tissue, portions of the bowls, a portion of theomentum, and the like from clogging or blocking the aperture orapertures in each longitudinally extending groove.

It is another feature of the invention to provide one or more rows ofsegmental grooves in the periphery of the tubular body which provideliquid communication-y. with one or more longitudinally extendinggrooves. It is` therefore apparent that the solution is not only free topass out of the apertures into the longitudinally extending grooves butalso into the segmental grooves, and vice versa.

It is another feature of the invention to provide at least two rows ofsegmental grooves in the periphery of the tubular body, wherein thesegmental grooves in one row are offset with respect to the segmentalgrooves in the adjacent row.

It is another feature of the invention to provide apertures in thelongitudinally extending grooves, at least a portion of each of theapertures being disposed in the path of Itwo adjacent segmentalperipheral grooves.

It is another feature of the invention to provide longitudinallyextending grooves in the distal marginal end of the tubular body and toprovide a plurality of apertures in the grooves which are as wide as thegrooves.

It is `another feature of the invention to provide means formedintegrally with and disposed at the proximal marginal end of the tubularbody whereby the proximal marginal end of the catheter can be secured tothe outer portion of the abdominal wall of the patient.

In the diagrammatic drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of peritoneal dialysis equipmentemploying the catheter of the invention and showing the catheter of theinvention disposed in the peritoneal cavity which is shown incross-sectional form;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view, par-tly cutaway, of the catheter ofthe invention;-

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the distalmarginal end of the catheter;

3,136,316 Patented June 9V, 1964 ICC ' 5 5 of FIGURE 3.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the illustrative drawing, there is shown adiagrammatically represented crosssectional portion of a human body Binto the peritoneal cavity C of which a catheter generally indicated at10 is `shown to be inserted through an aperture 11 in the abdominal wall12. A distal terminal end 13 of the catheter 10 is shown to extend intothe pelvic gutter 14 of the peritoneal cavity C while a proximalmarginal end 15 of the catheter 10 is shown to be secured to theabdominal wall 12 by a suture indicated at 16.

Peritoneal dialysis equipment, forming no part of this invention, isshown to include a solution container 17 which contains a suitablesolution 18. A bail 19 supports the solution container 17 from asupporting arm 20 which is adjustably mounted by a thumb screw 21 on astandard 22. A suitable air vent 23 is shown to be provided at theoutlet end 24 of the solution container 17. Tubing 25 leads from theoutlet end 24 into a Y-tting 26. Tubing 27 leads from the Y-tting 26 tothe catheter 10. Tubing 28 leads from the Y-iitting 26 into a container29. The tubing 25 and the tubing 28 are provided with suitable pinchclamps 30 and 31, respectively.

Referring now to FIGURE 2 of the illustrative drawing, there is shownthe catheter 10 which comprises a tubular body 32. A distal marginalendk 33 of the tubular body 32 is shown in FIGURE 5 to have fourlongitudinally extending grooves 34. Althoughfour longitudinallyextending grooves 34 are'illustrated as being the preferred number alesser or greater number are employable, if desired. The grooves 34 areshown Ito contain a plurality of apertures 35 which extend from apassage 36 in the tubular body 32 through a bottom wall 37 of eachgroove 34. Opposed apertures 35 in opposed grooves 34 are shown to bealigned. The grooves 34 are sufficiently narrow so that it is diicultfor tissue and the liketo enter thereinto. Moreover, substantiallyparallel side walls 38 and 39 of the grooves 34 intersect the outersurface 40 of the tubular body to form relatively pointed edges 41and42. Pointed edges 41 and 42 prevent, tissue, a portion 43 of a bowl44, and portions 45 of the omentum 46, for example, from passing intothe longitudinally extending grooves 34. The pointed edges 41 and 42actually serve to support the tissue or the like at spaced points sothat the obstruction will have to undergo approximately a right anglebend at each of the spaced pointed edges 41 and 42, assuming the tissueor the like is wider or longer than the distance between the side walls38 and 39. Slnce the apertures 35 are preferably as wide as the grooves34 it is diicult for the tissue or the like to clog or block theapertures 35, and yet the apertures 35 because of their width providelarge passages through which liquid can ow.

This distal marginal end 33 of the tubular body 32 is also shown to beprovided with a plurality of rows of adJacent opposed segmental grooves47, 48, 49 and 50. The number of rows of segmental grooves is, ofcourse, dened by the number of longitudinally extending grooves 34.Segmental grooves 48 and 50 are disposed in a iirst plane, whilesegmental grooves 47 and 49 are disposed in a second plane which islongitudinally offset from the first plane. The offset arrangement ofadjacent segmental grooves provides better administration of thesolution and drainage of the expended solution. It will be readilyapparent that as the solution passes from the passage 36 through theapertures 35 directly into the grooves 34 and directly into segmentalgrooves 47, 48, 49 and 50 and vice versa, effective administration ofthe solution and drainage of the expended solution is accomtrativedrawing, at least a portion of each of the apertures is disposed in thepath of two adjacent opposed segmental grooves. The terminal distal end13 of the tubular body 32l provides easy communication with the liquids`in the pelvic gutter 14 since the longitudinally extending grooves '34are open at their ends.

` The passage 36 at the distal marginal end 33 of the tubular body 32isa generally square cross-sectional passage portion as indicated at36a, .while the remainder of the passage.36 is atgenerally circularcross-sectional passage portion as indicated at 36h. The passageportions 36a and 36h are formed during the molding operation by alongitudinal core pin (not shown) of the same crosssectionalcongurations. The apertures 35 in the distal .marginal end 33 of thetubular body 32 are formed by transverser core pins (not shown) whichextend into the mold cavity (not shown) and abut against thelongitudinal core pin which forms the portions 36a and 36h.

A Luer taper 52 is shown to be formed internally of the'tubular body 32,however, a Luer taper or its equivalent might be formed externally, ifdesired.

The proximal marginal end 15 of the tubular body 32 Visshown to beprovided with a plurality of outwardly extending projections 54 whichare shown to take the form of spaced annular rings 55. The projections54 enable the yproximal marginal end 15 of the tubular body 32 'to beVshown to take the form of annular rings 55, the projections 54 are of acharacter that they can be constructed as lugs or the like.Alternatively, one or more grooves (not shown) can be provided in theproximal marginal end '1'5 of the tubular body 32 for this purpose, ifdesired.

In accomplishing peritoneal dialysis, the patient is placed in the supine position and an incision is made through the abdominal wall. Atrocar (not shown) is employed to penetrate the peritoneum. After thecatheter has been inserted through the trocar into the peritoneal cavityC, the trocar is removed and the catheter remains in place. The catheter10 is then sutured to the 'abdominal Wall 12. The pinch clamp 30 is thenmoved to a position in which the solution 18 can pass through Athetubing 25, through the Y-tting 26, through the tubing 27,"through thecatheter 10, and into the peritoneal cavity C of the patient. After theadministration of the solution 18 is completed, the pinch clamp 31 ismoved to a position in which the expended solution can be siphoned fromthe peritoneal cavity C of the patient through the catheter 19, throughthe tubing 27, through the Y-tting 26, through the tubing 28, and intothe container 29. More solution can be administered to the patient fromother solution bottles (not shown) if the peritoneal dialysis is to berepeated.

The one-piece catheter 10 is preferably composed of polyethylene but anysuitable moldable material having a sucient flexibility and suitabilityfor the purposes herein-described is employable without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

The above-described embodiment being exemplary only, it willbevunderstood that modifications in form or detail can be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, theinvention is not 'to be considered as limited save as is consonant withthescope of the following claim.

What is claimed is:

A catheter comprising a tubular body having a longitudinally extendingpassage therein, a distal marginal end of said tubular lbody having atleast two longitudinally extending grooves, at least one apertureproviding communication between said passage and each of saidlongitudinal grooves, and at lcast two longitudinally extendingrows of aplurality of segmental grooves on the periphery of said tubular bodywhich provide liquid communication with `said longitudinally extendinggrooves, said grooves of said one row being longitudinally oiset fromsaid grooves of said other row.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 204,905Y Lockwood June 18, 1878 1,045,326 Ruflin Nov. 26, 1912 1,642,819 LongSept` 20, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS 88,138 Germany Aug. 21, 1896 375,855France July 25, 1907 379,135 Germany Aug. 16, 1923 408,449 Germany Oct.10, 1923 458,201 Germany June 11, 1925 462,423 France Ian. 27, 19141,103,165 France May 1S, 1955

